What We Do

Help Educate is an international development organization built on the idea that education has the power to transform individuals and communities. We work with local Nicaraguan community leaders to identify students with the greatest potential for making a positive impact in their communities. We provide these students with scholarships to leading Nicaraguan universities, where they build their careers and gain the leadership skills necessary for moving Nicaragua forward.

Help Educate's students are from rural communities who attend nearby Nicaraguan universities while living and working at home. The scholarships cover tuition at regional universities, $250-$500 per year, an amount unattainable by rural farmers.

Help Educate strives to empower Nicaragua’s future leaders, young people with a vision for change in their communities, through higher education. Our graduates, connected strongly to their communities, will become agents of development. In this way, granting scholarships to the most energetic leaders contributes to the development of an entire community. The competitive nature of the scholarships incentivizes young students to do well academically. Our grassroots model is led by the community leaders who manage the student selection process and community service projects. Graduates often become selection committee leaders, passionately giving back to the program that allowed them to achieve their goals.

An educated citizen is much more likely to seek out challenging questions and struggle to improve his or her community. Our goal is to allow Nicaragua to improve its own situation by providing badly needed education to its poorest citizens. By simultaneously raising the level of technical education in Nicaragua and empowering its youth to become the country's future leaders, we are sustainably investing in Nicaragua's development.

Commitment to Maximizing Donations

Help Educate is composed entirely of volunteers. No one that works for our organization receives a salary, and we strive to reduce costs at every level of operations. As a result we are proud to be able to say that the overwhelming majority of your donation goes directly to pay for students' tuitions.

Learn more about our scholarship program and our students and alumni by clicking the links on the left.